Quick Cryptic Number 487 by Teazel

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
An enjoyable crossword with just a touch of challenge in the right places. I learnt some new vocabulary through very fairly crafted wordplay, which is always nice. I though 23ac was fun; not a device we see used here very often.

I’ll be away from the blog for a few hours as usual, but will get back to it later!

Definitions underlined.

1 Former lover aged, feeble in the head, hobbling (3,5)
OLD FLAME – OLD (aged) plus F (first of Feeble) and LAME (hobbling).
5 Knock friends about (4)
SLAP – PALS (friends) reversed (about).
9 Small, divisible by two? It isn’t (5)
SEVEN – S (small) and EVEN (divisible by two).
10 Horrid English beach covered in this? (7)
SHINGLE – anagram of (horrid) ENGLISH.
11 Criticising for not wearing business suit? (8,4)
DRESSING DOWN – double definition.
13 Attraction of a sound from the belfry heard (6)
APPEAL – A with a homophone of (heard) “peal” (sound from a belfry).
15 American colonist working to make flag (6)
PENNON – PENN (American colonist) and ON (working).
17 Broken, folded, fled in battle (7,5)
FLODDEN FIELD – anagram of (broken) FOLDED FLED IN.
20 Crime: an insult, if this taken (7)
OFFENCE – double definition.
21 I call myself divine — revolutionary doctrine (5)
DOGMA – AM GOD (I call myself divine) reversed (revolutionary).
22 Somewhat insane Roman emperor (4)
NERO – hidden in (somewhat) insaNE ROman.
23 Chap handin’ out instrument (8)
MANDOLIN – MAN (chap) and DOLIN’ (handin’ out).
1 Expel, being in serious trouble (4)
OUST – hidden in (being in) seriOUS Trouble.
2 After beginning to drink, finished port (5)
DOVER – first letter (beginning) of Drink with OVER (finished).
3 Very keen to keep partnership of many years (4-8)
LONG-STANDING – LONGING (very keen) surrounding (to keep) STAND (partnership, in cricket).
4 In the mountains, male donkey meeting one female (6)
MASSIF – M (male), ASS (donkey), I (one), and F (female).
6 Chicken, and two parts of a cow? (7)
LEGHORN – LEG and HORN (two parts of a cow).
7 Expecting page to have ruling (8)
PREGNANT – P (page) and REGNANT (ruling).
8 Focused, not trying to score boundaries? (6-6)
SINGLE-MINDED – thinking about a single run, rather than hitting a four or six.
12 Bare one buttock? Such spectacles! (4,4)
HALF MOON – one usually reveals both buttocks to moon.
14 Tender university teacher ref upset (7)
PROFFER – PROF (university teacher) and REF backwards (upset).
16 Divine messenger, a girl (6)
ANGELA – ANGEL (divine messenger) and A.
18 Gale wrecked rear of school, it’s allowed (5)
LEGAL – anagram of (wrecked) GALE, and last letter of schooL.
19 Show excessive friendliness for young deer (4)
FAWN – double definition.

14 comments on “Quick Cryptic Number 487 by Teazel”

  1. You’ve got a typo, I think: APPEAL is a homophone of ‘a peal’ (sound from a belfry).
  2. Just scraped in under the wire after 10 minutes.

    I’m not sure what’s meant by “it isn’t” at 9ac. I think it has to be saying that SEVEN isn’t divisible by two, though of course it is. The alternative might be that SEVEN isn’t “even” but I think that’s too indirect to be satisfactory.

    The device at 23 which we don’t see very often is used twice in the same clue in today’s 15×15.

    Edited at 2016-01-20 07:57 am (UTC)

  3. Nice straightforward puzzle from Teazel completed almost in record time – only being held up by 12d, 13a & 14d.
    I’ve no problem with 9a – I think in common parlance the “exactly” is sort of assumed (e.g. 6 can be divided by 2 and 3 but not 5).
    I hesitated at 19d wondering if it should be spelt FAUN, but realised that this was the mythical being instead.
    Good to see “former lover” not being EX for a change.
  5. Yes, this was a very entertaining one and I did wonder if the setter might be Anax (Dean Meyer) who sets the Sunday cryptic every third week. DOGMA and HALF MOON being rather like his sense of humour. The cricket reference in 3d (STAND) sailed right over my head as usual. 5.45
  6. I finished in just over my 30 minute target with only 3d un-parsed. Very enjoyable with a lot of great clues. Teazel is fun when I have a decent grid to work with!
    Brian
  7. Very enjoyable puzzle. Normally I find Teazel a tough setter but did not have many problems with this but not a quick solve. Last in PREGNANT and favourite HALF MOON.
  8. At 13 minutes I think this qualifies as my fastest ever solve. As usual with Teazel I thought this was a very entertaining puzzle. Particular mentions for 12d and 6d.
  9. Felt ok for me too. I believe I have not solved so quickly before, but can’t tell you how long it was. My new yardstick is how many I get in ten minutes, yesterday and today both 9 done (and correct!) Then today all the rest flowed quite well. I did try to recall/invent a Greek messenger but the simple answer was of course the right one.
  10. Enjoyable puzzle for an extended Costa – took me about 90 minutes, so a long way to go to catch most of you. Several correct answers needing to be fully explained by the blog. My problem today was 15a ‘pennon’ as was unfamiliar with this version of pennant – kept considering a native of Penn might be a Pennan….! My vote for COD is 17a flodden field.
  11. Today’s puzzle stretched my general knowledge. I got Flodden Field easily enough but was stuck at the end with two clues -the American colonist and the chicken (which I thought might indicate Coward).
    I got Lehgorn but only knew it as a place in Italy which confusingly the Italians call something different. But the N at the end allowed me to dredge Penn from somewhere and I knew Pennon was a flag. So all done, in rather a long time. David
  12. I was in the region of a personal best around 16 minutes, but LOI was PENNON which took me to 26 mins. I’ve never heard the word before, or heard of PENN directly, but concluded that “working” must be “on”, and there’s Pennsylvania and Penn State University, so there’s probably a famous American called Penn.

    LEGHORN I guessed was a type of chicken, remembering Foghorn Leghorn, a rooster in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Never heard it anywhere else, but according to Wikipedia it originated in Tuscany and made its way to the UK via America in the 19th century.

  13. An enjoyable solve giving us our best time yet – 19m 48s. Thanks to all on this forum whose comments have helped us on our way. I remembered Penn from an earlier QC, Our favourite was “shingle” being an anagram of English, whilst finding that English shingle beaches can be horrid! bandjo

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